Inside the Author’s Studio

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Since it first aired in 1994, millions of people have watched and enjoyed the small peek inside actors and actresses’ lives in the Bravo television show, Inside the Actors Studio.

Filmed with a student audience at the Actors Studio Drama School, the show has starred numerous known and unforgettable faces such as Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Kristen Wiig, and many more.

Recently, some of the English teachers decided to create a similar activity called Inside the Authors Studio, where students were able to listen to an interview between their teacher and teacher/author Kimberly Emmert.

“I was genuinely surprised (for the interview). I was planning on just giving background information on WWII and as Mrs. (Tiffany) Thor and Mrs. (Tamara) Baker started asking me questions about my novel, I was just surprised that they thought it was something that the students would find interesting and want to learn about,” Emmert said.

Her novels Slow Boil and Scalded Remnant are both historical fiction, set in the tragic backdrop of World War II. During her interview, she said that there will be a third book to the series, Scorching Dawn.

“I’m just proud that I was actually able to accomplish a novel, so I was happy to talk about it,” Emmert said.

In the interview, she also discussed her writing process, explaining her techniques and methods to get her mind set for writing.

Emmert explained that while writing her first novel, Slow Boil, it was very helpful to listen to a specific playlist each time she was writing. She also said that while she was working on character development, she decided to take people in her life and use them as a mold for her characters, imagining what they would do if they were put into the same situations as those of her characters.

“I think it really helped with finding ways to be more open when writing and open your eyes on the whole topic of the WWII period,” freshman Valeria Iglesias said.

Providing a slide show, Emmert spoke, in detail, about her small college trip to Europe in 1994 where she stayed for two months, teaching children to speak English.

During those two months she and her fellow classmates decided to take a tour at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

She explained then that it was that summer and experience that truly motivated her to write her novels.

“I thought it was really interesting to learn why she wrote her book and hear the story she had to tell,” junior Jenna Gerhardt said.

The idea for the presentation was formed by English teachers Baker and Thor, both who found the topic interesting and believed it could benefit students by showing them an inside peek to the writing process of an author.

“We were trying to figure out a way to have an entry event into this unit that would be more fun and more informative,” Baker said.

The event caught the interest in many students and helped teach them the gradual acceleration of events, leading up to the World War II.

“I think that understanding the Nazi period is always helpful; when a democracy chooses dictatorship it’s worth noting,” Emmert said. “It’s worth understanding what happened and where the breakdown came from. So I hope they (students) benefited from it.”